The State Home Department drew the ire of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) member VK Duggal, the nodal officer of rescue and relief operations in Uttarakhand, due to delay in extrication of bodies lying in Kedar valley since the cloud burst hit the area on June 16-17.
Duggal’s frustration increased when officials failed to submit their part of the assessment a day ahead of Congress ruling chief ministers’ meeting in Delhi on July 13. Sources said that Duggal was an upright officer at the Centre, but here the ‘easygoing attitude’ of State Govt officials has ensured that he cannot work to full capacity.
According to well-placed sources, as per the CrPC, local district administration and police are supposed to extricate the bodies. However, in this case, the duo is not serious about the matter. Instead, the police personnel are busy in propagating their work.
When the rescue operation was in full swing, the Centre had asked the State home department to supervise it seriously, but they failed to do. The department seems to be overburdened with work or officials there are least interested in working. Sources said that to ensure that, Duggal convened a meeting with Chief Secretary Subhash Kumar on Friday and apprised him of the ‘easygoing attitude’ of the government officials. Sources further added that Duggal was sent to Uttarakhand, but even his presence failed to move the officials.
Taking cognisance of the media reports about lack of coordination among different agencies involved in the relief and rescue operations that have hampered mitigation efforts, Union Home Minister Sushi Kumar Shinde had appointed Duggal as a nodal officer for relief and rescue operations in rain-ravaged Uttarakhand on June 21. Since then, he has been camping here but could not perform as per expectation because of the ‘attitude’ of State Government employees.
Sources said that Duggal expressed that the non-Congress ruling States have been using all kind of gimmicks to create pressure on the Union Government. Till July 12, the State police could manage to cremate around 200 bodies since June 16-17. However, around 6,000 persons are missing as per the reports of missing cell. This difference is bothering the Union Government too much and it was conveyed to Duggal. Sources said that Duggal had already apprised the Union Government of the lackadaisical approach of the State Government officials.
Expressing displeasure over the matter, the Union Government, which does not want to give an opportunity to the Opposition BJP, had appointed a Cabinet Committee to look after reconstruction and rehabilitation work in flood-ravaged State. The committee includes 10 Union Ministers, including AK Antony, Sharad Pawar, P Chidambaram, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Sushil Kumar Shinde, Oscar Fernandes, Kapil Sibal, Girija Vyas, Jairam Ramesh and Harish Rawat. Chaired by the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the committee has Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna and National Disaster Management Authority Vice Chairman M Shashidhar Reddy as permanent invitees.
A day ahead of the cabinet committee meeting, which is schedule on July 13 in New Delhi, Duggal was very apprehensive and was busy in preparing a detailed report on Action Taken after the disaster.